Definition:                

User acceptance testing is the most critical level of testing because it is the final opportunity to identify any problems before the solution is implemented.  In addition, this testing concludes with signed off acceptance of the solution by the client.  User acceptance testing must be conducted thoroughly and accurately to give the final assurance of quality and checking that the solution meets the business requirements. 

User acceptance testing is the process of:

·          Confirming that the solution performs according to specification.

·          Finding and fixing errors until the acceptance criteria are met. 

The testing must ensure that the solution will perform as expected when implemented.  To achieve this, testers are advised not only to verify that the solution works, but also to focus on finding errors.  Only when they can no longer find errors can they be confident that the solution will function correctly and as expected. 

Before commencing user acceptance testing make sure that the acceptance criteria have been defined.  User acceptance testing continues until the acceptance criteria are met and the project owner/sponsor signs off that the solution is ready for implementation. 

In user acceptance testing the users execute the user acceptance test cases prepared by the business analyst in the design phase of the project according to the testing strategy.

            It includes Alpha-Testing and Beta –Testing.           

Alpha – Testing: Testing a new product in pre-release internally before testing it with outside users.

Beta –Testing: The beta phase of software design exposes a new product, which has just emerged from in-house (alpha) testing, to a large number of real people, real hardware, and real usage.

Beta testing is not a method of getting free software long-term, because the software expires shortly after the testing period. The benefits of testing include:

·         Getting a look at the new features before anyone else.

·         The pleasure of finding unsuspected bugs.

·         Making our (i.e., your!) software better as a result of detecting those bugs.

·         Possibly, affecting our future direction of development through your suggestions.